Davies warns US against import tariffs

South African meat producers could consider litigation against the US if it imposes new tariffs on aluminium-based exports such as vehicles, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said.

Amid a threat of a global trade war, the US and its African counterparts are discussing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a preferential-trade programme that enhances market access to the US by eliminating import levies on more than 7 000 products.

In 2016, South Africa retained preferential access for its farming goods to the world’s biggest market after meeting benchmarks to allow the import and sale of US meat products. The bulk of its shipments under the accord are vehicles and car parts.

“The concessions we made on poultry, pork and beef are linked to our continued benefit from AGOA,” said Davies.

If the US government spread its focus to South African-made cars, “there could well be a litigation that could challenge our continued offering of that facility to the US, we made that clear.”

– Bloomberg

Moneyweb

For Bonang Mohale, the straight-shooting CEO of Business Leadership SA (BLSA), Viceroy must be praised for red-flagging the fraud at Steinhoff that led to the spectacular downfall of the retailer’s disgraced former chief executive Markus Jooste.

“Viceroy needs to be congratulated for having exposed the theft and deceit at Steinhoff,” Mohale told Moneyweb.

Short-seller Viceroy unveiled patterns of off-balance sheet transactions that Steinhoff used to artificially inflate earnings at a time when there was an information vacuum about the extent of the fraud.

But the ethics of how Viceroy obtained data and compiled its report left a lot to be desired, said Mohale.